Procedural Extradition and the Penalty Requirement: The Court of Cassation Clarifies the Italy-Uruguay Treaty (Judgment no. 17925/2025)

In the complex landscape of international criminal law, extradition represents one of the most delicate and crucial tools for judicial cooperation between States. Its correct application is fundamental to ensuring that those responsible for crimes do not find refuge across borders, while at the same time it is essential that individuals' rights are fully protected. In this context, the Court of Cassation, with its recent judgment no. 17925 of April 10, 2025 (filed on May 13, 2025), has provided a clarifying interpretation on a pivotal aspect of procedural extradition, particularly in relation to the bilateral Treaty between Italy and Uruguay.

The Complex World of Extradition and the Italy-Uruguay Treaty

Extradition is the procedure by which one State hands over a person, accused or convicted of a crime, to another State that has requested it, so that they may be brought to trial or serve their sentence. This mechanism is based on international agreements, such as bilateral treaties or multilateral conventions, which establish the conditions and procedures for surrender. In this specific case, the Supreme Court's ruling concerns the application of Article 2 of the bilateral extradition Treaty between Italy and Uruguay, signed on May 11, 2017, and ratified in Italy by Law no. 151 of November 25, 2019.

This treaty establishes a specific requirement of a prison sentence of at least two years for extraditability. The interpretative issue that the Court of Cassation was called upon to resolve, in the proceedings involving the defendant F. B. and the Public Prosecutor R. G., with President A. C. and Rapporteur E. C., concerned how this requirement should be understood: whether it referred to the maximum penalty provided in abstract for the crime (statutory penalty) or to the penalty that would concretely be imposed or had been imposed.

The Court of Cassation Defines the Penalty Requirement: Analysis of Judgment no. 17925/2025

The judgment under review, by rejecting the appeal against a decision of the Court of Appeal of Brescia, has reaffirmed and clarified a fundamental principle. Here is the ruling of the Court of Cassation, an essential reference point for legal professionals:

In matters of procedural extradition, the requirement of a prison sentence of at least two years, stipulated by art. 2 of the bilateral extradition Treaty between Italy and Uruguay of May 11, 2017, ratified by Law no. 151 of November 25, 2019, for the purpose of extraditability to one or the other State, must refer to the maximum statutory penalty contemplated in the legislation of both countries for the criminal offense that is the subject of the request.

This decision is of crucial importance. The Court has established that the criterion to be adopted is not the penalty concretely imposed or that which is presumed will be imposed, but the "